¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost : ¥1,500,000)

Nebulizers have long been recognized as potential agents of nosocomial respiratory infection. In this inverstigation, the contamination rates of 20 nebulizers used in hospitals were studied. Out of 20 nebulizers eighteen (90%) were contaminated and viable microbes in the liquid reservoirs of those nebulizers ranged from 10^1-10^6 CFU/ml. Glucose nonfermentative Gram-negative bacilli were the predominant organisms isolated. Among those organisms, Sphingomonas paucimobilis, Burkholderia cepacia, Sphingobacterium multivorum, Flavobacterium meningosepticum, Fseudomonas sp., Acinetobactor sp. and Methylobacterium sp. were identified. According to statistical analysis of the methods of use and care of the nebulizers, the washing of nebulizers using a disinfectant such as sodium hypochlorite and the cold storage of medication solutions affod simple and effective means for the decontamination of the nebulizers.